Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

cross-claim

n. A claim asserted between codefendants or coplaintiffs in a case and that relates to the subject of the original claim or counterclaim. - Also termed cross-action. -cross-claim, ub. - cross-claimant, n. Cf. COUNTERCLAIM. "The courts have not always distinguished clearly between a cross-claim and a counterclaim, and have used one name where the other is proper under the rules, perhaps because in some states, and in the old equity practice, the term cross-complaint or cross-bill is used for what the rules regard as a counterclaim. Under Rule 13 a counterclaim is a claim against an opposing party, while a cross-claim is against a co-party. Further there is not the same freedom in asserting cross-claims that the rules provide for counterclaims. An unrelated claim against an opposing party may be asserted as a permissive counterclaim, but only claims related to the subject matter of the original action, or property involved therein, are appropriate as cross-claims." Charles Alan Wright, The Law of Federal Courts § 80, at 574 (5th ed. 1994).